MemberVery likely going to be making an offer on a home this week and want to know what others offered.
Tell me : the asking price, what you offered, what you eventually bought it for.
Thanks in advance!
MemberThe housing market is extremely competitive where I am. We saw our house at an open house the first day it was on the market and made an offer 30 mins after seeing it. Because it’s competitive we had to offer over asking (we offered $5K over). We were one of five offers from the open house.
MemberI think the biggest thing to be aware of is what the market is like in your area and how long a house has been on the market. You can typically get away with offering less if the house has been on the market 60-90 days vs 30 days or less. My little sister has put in offers for 10 houses in Oakland area and turned down because other offers were better. Cash only, over asking price, etc.
MemberIts not just price that you can play with as a purchaser. With our last house we only offered 1k over asking price. we used that we were a cash buyer therefore not subject to finance. We had no chain and could do settlement at whatever date suited the seller. The seller needed our offer to secure a bigger loan to then proceed with the purchase of their next house.
My point is that you can use other things to negotiate with. Good luck and I also recommend that you ask for council approved plans as part of your contract. Lots of illegal building works happen that are not approved. We realised that an extension had been put on our house. It was touch and go until we got the plans from council that stated it was legal. If we then knowingly sold on the house knowing that illegal works had taken place, we could have been liable. Its also costly and hard to get post building approval where I live. We always do offers subject to finance, building inspection, termites and council plans. We never want to go through that worry again with illegal building works.
Happy house hunting!
MemberCompletely depends on the housing market in your area. Both my sisters just bought in hot markets. One offered and paid 25% above asking (probably her 8th offer, two precious went for 40% above asking!!!) and the other was probably 5-10% above asking. Both houses were bought within 48 hrs of being listed.
best friend in slightly cooler market put an offer on a house that had been listed for nearly 8 months. I think she offered about 15% below asking but accepted house “as is” – luckily she was given inspection info from a previous bidder so knew what she was getting (roughly).
so it totally depends on the market, how long the house has been listed, what it’s offer history has been, etc
MemberYup, we’re asking for a LIM report and meth test too plus an independent valuation.
The market here has slowed a lot as it’s the middle of winter now and also an election year so people tend to hold out. So far the agent hasn’t said there’s been other offers or anything. We have a private showing booked in for Wednesday as it’s in a different city and I’m flying in for it. We move to the new city in 6/7 weeks but happy for the house to sit empty if need be.
We also have financed pre approved, no other house to sell, can settle when ever as we are currently on business travel and not even renting (just live in a hotel).
The house is listed at 245k. I used a valuation tool and previous sales of comps in the last 3 months and it looks like anything over 250k would be over priced. We have up to 260k to pay if we really must.
It needs a new kitchen and bathroom work plus the roof needs work on it too that they provided quotes for – $3000.
I initially thought that we could go in at 235k with all the work needed in mind then if they countered at even full ask it’d still be a bargain for us.
The place isn’t everyone’s cup of tea imo because it’s a double story townhouse with 2 bedrooms. So it cuts out almost anyone with a young family or older people. We’re a young professional couple with no children so it works very well for us. It’s old and needs some work for sure.
I dunno! What would you do?
It’s been listed 2 weeks but I swear I saw it a couple months ago with another agent. Hmmm
MemberDepends on where you live. Here the market is competitive so you can expect to pay more than asking price – and there are often bidding wars. We decided to shelf our house buying because of this. Even run-down fixer uppers are going for more than asking. We’re still saving.
Member$245k soundslike a bargain from someone in a hot market, but ultimately it depends on your market. Your real estate agent should be able to pull comparable listings and comment on factors that will impact value i.e. condition, square footage, lot size, etc to give you a realistic picture of your market conditions and the property’s value.
MemberOur house was listed at $122,700. We paid $5k over asking ($127,700) in order to beat out an offer that was for asking price. It was/is a fixer upper, but starter homes in our area are hard to find and sell easily.
My parents offered 16% under asking on their house because it needed so much work. It was accepted after a few months (they walked away & then were called later). But they were prepared to lose out on it.
MemberIt really depends on the market. Where I am, homes are going 30-60k over asking. Including fixer uppers and houses that need 100k plus in work just to be liveable. They also sell within 72 hours… with that being said we were able to find a house that fell through the cracks, and is a short sale- we offered 20k under asking and are in contract. If the realtor would have had an open house I know the house would go for 80k more than we’re in contract for!
MemberBefore we made an offer, our realtors sent us comparable sales in the area for the past 6 months as well as an expanded listing that showed us the sale history of the house. We always knew how much the house was bought for and how many times it was on the market and if the price had been decreased in the past before we calculated a price. There are certain neighbourhoods where I am that we asked over and others where we could negotiate. Our realtors always recommended going in at price that would result in us negotiating halfway to our end price (if that makes sense – if a house was listed for 215 and we wanted 200 we’d go in at 175). Of course, your realtor will have a better idea on this based on the area.
Member
MemberI’d refer to your agent. Homes in my area are going $30k+ over asking. Doesn’t even matter if it needs a lot of work. It depends completely on the market.
MemberI agree with PP. New roof on our house was $10k New kitchen was $10k (we did most of the work, hired out floors and counters). New bathroom, assuming just cosmetic could be $1-3k. $3k won’t even cover appliances.
When we bought, we offered and were accepted at $30k below asking. But, sellers had another house and my house needed major updates/repairs. In my area, houses are now selling for $10k over asking and spending very little time on the market.
MemberWe just closed on our house 2 weeks ago, on our old house the buyer offered $5,000 over asking. We had another offer the same day for asking price.
On our new house, it was built in 1991 and looks very 1991, there weren’t any offers coming in so the buyer was going to hire somebody to take down all the horrible 90s wall paper. We offered $14,000 under asking and asked her to keep the wall paper up (we’ll take it down ourselves). We fully expected a counter offer, but she accepted it. She’s an older lady and had met us and knew we are a young family, she said she wanted a family living here since it’s where she raised her kids.
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